Halloween weekend marked Insomniac’s sixth annual Escape Psycho Circus, making its return to the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, California. Over 110,000 creatively dressed headliners gathered together to celebrate two sold out nights of dance music and spine-chilling fun. The event center was turned into an eerie oasis equipped with circus themed rides, costumed performers, and the ultimate haunted maze, “The Asylum”. The Asylum is said to be the largest, most terrifying haunted maze that Insomniac has ever had, even requiring festival-goers to sign waivers upon entry. Spooky characters guided attendees through 15 terrifying rooms modeled after past themes of the festival. However, the fright did not end past the doors of The Asylum, as menacing tightrope walkers, fortune tellers, and ghoulish characters spookily wandered the festival grounds as the night fell each day.

Photo Credit: Doug Van Sant for Insomniac

The spooky theme may have provided us with the Halloween experience, but the performances are what really put us in the spirit. Each night, booming music and illuminating lasers roared from Insomniac’s four massive stages. This years featured stages included the Slaughterhouse, Ghouls’ Graveyard, The Chopping Block, and Cannibal’s Tea Party. Each stage granted us all of our favorite genres and over 60 of the biggest names in dance music.

Friday brought us artists like Eric Prydz, Martin Solveig, KSHMR, Armin van Buuren, The Chainsmokers, Tchami, Jamie Jones, and more. Our first night began at the Ghouls’ Graveyard stage, and this tented mega-structure was set up with large LED screens surrounding the DJ booth. The booth was set on a elevated platform, providing all headliners (regardless whether in the front or back) an excellent view of their favorite artists.

The first performance of the night was from the Parisian house DJ, Martin Solveig. Martin “Intoxicated” us with his feel good tunes, and threw down a set that was ideal for the shufflers in the house. He had the crowd cutting shapes to Oliver Helden’s “Juggernaut”, clapping to Ellie Goulding’s “Lights”, and throwing their hands in the air for what seems like every festival’s staple song, Galantis’ “Peanut Butter Jelly”. The next artist on the Graveyard’s roster was electro house master KSHMR. His set had everyone in the audience vibing to his unique Indian inspired sound. He opened the set with his well known track with Carnage and Timmy Trumpet, “Toca”, and played some of his originals including “Dead Mans Hand”, “Karate” with R3hab, and “Extreme” with Bassjackers featuring Sidnie Tipton.

Photo Credit: The Holy Mountain for Insomniac

After almost two hours at Ghouls we made our way to Escape’s main stage, Slaughterhouse. Slaughterhouse was the largest, most intricately designed stage, sitting under a huge circus tent featuring 26 dynamic lasers and 6 towers of LED panels. The stage resembled the face of a sinister clown with a wide gaping mouth and jagged teeth. The set up was very intriguing, as the artists actually performed inside the twisted clown’s “mouth” (see picture below).

Our first main stage performance of the night was from the chart topping duo, The Chainsmokers. The pair played a unique multi-genre set, fusing together their current productions with hip hop songs of the past. An example of this was when they played Fedde Le Grand’s mashup of their song with Tiesto “Split (Only U)” & Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown”. Alex and Drew had the packed house going wild every time they dropped one of their radio hits, especially when Alex showcased his vocal capabilities on “Closer”.

Photo Credit: Marc van der Aa for Insomniac

We eventually made our way to the home of the underground sounds, Cannibal’s Tea Party. Cannibal’s Tea Party was curated by Insomniac’s new brand, Factory 93 Experience. This stage was smaller in comparison to the other two and was set indoors, but still radiated just as much magic. Here, we were able to witness the deep sounds of techno legend, Jamie Jones. Jamie’s set delivered all the groove, causing the crowd to mindlessly dance and get lost in the music.

Photo Credit: Tyler Hill for Insomniac

The first night came to a close with Zomboy, Jamie Jones, Hardwell, and Eric Prydz. We decided to leave Jamie Jones early in order to conclude the night with progressive house legend, Eric Prydz. What can we say about Prydz’s performance, other than he left as headliners in awe. He played some of our favorite tracks, like “Generate” and “Opus”, as well as an abundance of unreleased ID’s, which are rumored to be on his next EP. Besides the music, he did what he does best…destroyed Ghouls’ Graveward with his lasers, making it the perfect grand finale to day one of Escape Psycho Circus.

Photo Credit: Adi Adinayev for Insomniac

Saturday, we arrived with our set schedules planned, ready to take on the day. Day two brought us some of the most memorable performances of the weekend including The Magician, Duke Dumont, Andrew Bayer, JOYRYDE, Chris Leibing, Andrew Rayel, Dash Berlin, and more. Our first set, as well as one of the best, was from house DJ/Producer, The Magician. The Magician did just what his name says, performed magic for the attendees at the Slaughterhouse. He had all of us entranced with his song choices, playing “Together”, Redlight’s “Blood Moon”, Armand Van Helden’s “Wings”, and even allowed us to reminisce back on day one when he played Martin Solveig’s “Do It Right”.

We eventually made our way back to Ghouls’ Graveyard to see Anjunabeats artist, Andrew Bayer. His set was refreshing because to be honest, we were lacking trance thus far. Bayer’s track selection was impeccable and in perfect sync with the lasers shooting out into the audience. His set included a special rendition of the classic song, “Losing My Religion” and Four Tet’s remix of Eric Prydz’s “Opus”. Check out the video from Andrew Bayer’s set below:

Our next stop was The Chopping Block stage. Like Cannibal’s Tea Party, The Chopping Block was also set indoors. This stage had a unique design, with tusk like pieces hanging from the ceiling, in which the lasers seemed to reflect off of. As far as the lineup, it was particularly heavier on the bass side. One of the sets we caught here was from rising DJ/producer JOYRYDE. He blew us away with his one of a kind bass house style, dropping tracks like Destructo’s “4 Real”, “Give My Love”, and even ending his set with some drum and bass from Jaquar Skills & Mind Vortex.

Photo Credit: Tyler Hill for Insomniac

The closing entertainers of the night consisted of Kaskade, Dash Berlin, Four Tet, and Richie Hawtin. Deciding on who to end the night with was difficult, because the headlining acts were some of our favorites. Ultimately, we chose the king of feels, Dash Berlin. We stood dead center in the crowd of Ghouls’ Graveyard, aligned directly with Dash, as he mesmerized us with his beautiful compositions. He had headliners emotionally connected, playing his originals, “Steal You Away”, “Man On The Run”, “Till The Sky Falls Down”, and “Here Tonight”. He included classics like Eurythmic’s “Sweet Dreams”, and the song we were anxiously awaiting, DJ Sammy’s “Heaven”. At that moment DJ Sammy’s words, “I’m finding it hard to believe, we’re in Heaven”, couldn’t have been more true.

Photo Credit: Holy Mountain for Insomniac

To sum it up, Escape Psycho Circus was a spectacular event with amazing artists and production. We would like to thank Insomniac for allowing us to come out and experience the largest West Coast Halloween festival! We hope our review has done Escape justice, and you headliners will consider joining us next year. If you need a festival to help hold you over until next year’s Escape, check out Insomniac’s all trance festival, Dreamstate.